Wazzup….

As you can see for the past few months I have not been posting. Unfortunately I had reached a snag in my way. Since we had found out that the swingarm was crooked, I wasn't in the best of moods. So, I decided to try to fix my fuel tank because of the leak. I had been spending a lot of time discussing on ways to improve it as well. After much discussion, it required a little bit of grinding to make sure the fuel cork sits flush. After figuring that out, I had then planned to do it myself since I was provided a rotary tool from my best friend Shane.

Just before I had began my work on the tank and also spoke to a guy who could fix my swingarm, I was quite stressed out about it… so the wife decided it was time to take my mind of the bike and I got my entire arm tattooed. This sorta removed 2-3 weeks out of my work time, but at least I had time to spend tending to my tattoos and kids (dogs) instead of having to ponder over things I could do nothing about (fucking swingarm).

Last week, I had taken about half a day just removing the swingarm (it was pretty tight) and brought it over to a master chopper builder (which I should have done earlier). This guy is the king of kings when it comes to choppers. He is what they locally call the OCC of Malaysia. We were sitting at his shop staring at the damn swingarm wondering what we were going to do with the stupid thing coz there was a half baked job of trying install a chain tensioner.

Oh yea, I forgot to mention about that too… the general issue with the swingarm is that it is crooked, misaligned, instead of being straight the ends are widened like some fuckers wife who can't keep her legs closed and there were not chain tensioners although the holes were made. The first strings of issues had a solution 10 seconds after I showed this guy the picture of the bike… apparently, there was no crossmember to strengthen the rear of the arm since it was already much longer. This will align the arms and fix the widened end. As for the crookedness, abit of heating, hitting and swearing will do the job.

Back to the chain tensioner. After us staring at the botched extensions, we found that the guy who designed it was quite smart. It was meant to be a hidden internal chain tensioner that would be covered up. However, apparently, to cover up his lack of interest in working, the welder had welded it backwards and didn't check his work. So, now with some cash in hand and a real pro, we will be fixing it. The question is: why don't you just cut it out and reweld it? Well, because we had already mounted the rear disk brake servo on it and it would be a waste of lotsa time and more money.

So last week, I went back there, took the rest of the things out, fixed the fuel tank and mounted that up. I had found that the front disk brakes were damaged and I will probably have to replace the disk… I wonder why…

before

after

By Vy

First Aid

I had, over the weekend, cut myself pretty deep in my palm. Though it doesn't hurt as much at I expected, I did however smart like a bitch when I try to drive. Hence I had thought that this would be the best time to give you guys a lesson or two on first aid.

Usually, one would think nothing of the little cut; that is, till I gets infected and you can't do squat about it. I had first learnt about this method of sealing some wounds from some old dude I used to hang out with. I read up about this method later on after he told me, just to make sure, but its been awhile since I read it. The story of it goes something like this, back in the good ol days when war was still cool and one side was fighting but the other was singing about peace and stuff, the army (not ours coz if our army folks get cut they go home crying) had thought of a great idea. If there were cuts and gashes, the field doctors would hold the wound closed and lined the wound with superglue, give them a pat on the back and arm them with BIGGER guns to "go get em". The explanation was that the superglue was so fast in bonding it reduces the time to get the "grunts" to the battlefield. They also mentioned something about it being cleaner compared to stitching. But then again, to these folks, putting mud on your blown off stump of a leg was clean at the time…

Here it goes:

Step1:
Get a wound

Step 2:
Buy superglue, get better ones coz they dry faster

Step 3:
Take the superglue out of its package.

Step 4:
Clean the wound (as per picture on the first step, my hand is nice and spotless for once)

Step 5:
Apply a THIN layer of glue to the wound with it closed (you want to promote the wound to heal) then apply another thin layer around the wound to make it have a protective area.

Completed Project:

Notes:
-If you don't have superglue, then you can use UHU as well. Although it doesn't stick as long as superglue, but you can keep this with you wherever you go unlike superglue that will dry and be pointless after you open it.

-UHU burns more then superglue, but it doesn't mean superglue doesn't hurt so don't be a baby about it.

-At least wash the wound with water first, contrary to popular belief, mud DOES NOT HELP MORON!!

=====================================

On another note, if you somehow hurt your back or pulled a muscle while riding or maybe just doing some things I really don't wanna know, its best to be prepared. Ever heard of canned heat? Well don't FUCKIN USE IT!! Instead look for canned ice or ice spray as more popularly known in Malaysia. Once you get your muscle injury, spray it on as soon as you can and sit down some where to rest for at least 15 minutes. Can't find canned ice (like me for a long time)? Go to your nearest convenience store and pick up a cold can of coke, put a cloth around it and apply to your back, when its done, give it to the dude/dudette who helped you, he/she deserves if after having to rub your hairy back.

If you guys are wondering how I know this, its obvious you didn't read the first page (or was it the second???? I don't read it too) I am suffering from serious back issues. Apparently some joint between the pelvic bone and the back bone is kinda screwed, plus, I have a slightly crooked lower spine AND to add some spice to it, have a couple of compressed disks, so I spent quite a lot of time in a hospital trying to "fix" it and that's where the physiotherapist was telling me what to do if my back flared up.

By Vy

Update

Finally, yesterday I had a chance to visit my bike (after 3 weeks of leaving it with a leaky fuel tank). The mission yesterday was get my stuff to the Chop Shop, Jack up the bike and asses the problems and maybe figure out the solutions.

After some errands I had to run in the earlier part of the day, I had gone to a meeting point to wait for my friend who was gonna help me out. Big ups to Shinjite for the help. While waiting, I realized that I had come all the way over and forgot the keys to the chopshop. So, Shinjite bought his lunch and we rolled all the way back to my house again to pick up the keys.

After reaching the chop shop, we found that some monkey decided to use the shops front door as his personal parking space. None the less, we did the polite thing and parked ass up in front of his car. We unloaded the stuff, said hi to the neighboring shop owner and started setting up. Once we got everything in the shop, we had started to scratch our heads on what we had to do. First off, please do not that we are generally normal everyday dudes and precision tools are not cheap in Malaysia, so don't give me shit about using jack stands…. The Malaysian way (or should I say Malaysian rim stealers way) of jacking up a car/bike for long periods of time would be to use bricks. Good thing a great pal (Chooi Leang) had helped me acquire some quite awhile back. Shinjite and I started jacking up the bike with a car jack in the middle and placed bricks on it. After putting the bricks on one side, we realized the exhaust was in the way, so we removed that. Viola!! All jacked up.

We started removing the rear absorbers because we wanted the swingarm to move about freely while we assessed the problem with the misaligned wheel. It looked like a scrambler. Upon staring at the back, we realized that the right side of the swingarm was not straight and that it was jutting out more at an angle. While removing the tyre, we also realized that the left swingarm was moving in and out as we were hammering the shaft out. We will definitely have to do something about that. Missing some tools, I could not remove the swingarm so that will have to be done another time when I get the right wrench size.

So far, we had assessed only the back part of the bike and there are more things to check and figure out. Hopefully I will be able to work on the bike at least once a week. Update you all soon.


By Vy

Chopping

A lot of people shun me for my very mean comments about what I think a chopper is all about. What they don't realize is that most bikes are not really choppers at all. Although I am not saying that my idea of a chopper is right, I believe in what the general population call "True Choppers" generally, what a true chopper is, is quite simply put, a chopped up bike. Literally. These are bikes that were purchased off a showroom, a friends storage facility, someone stole the bike from the street, given as a present, or it fell from the sky.

Wherever the bike came from, a chopper by right is a bike that rolled off the assembly line stock standard with all its trim and shiny stuff you will NEVER use in tact. Well, it starts that way. Now, like people and other animals, choppers come in all shapes, sizes, version etc. and like people, they came from one original idea. Bikes then were made for many reasons, some were made for war other just for riding. But the idea of a chopper supposedly (correct me if I am wrong) right after the war (can't remember WW1 or 2), some army folks (pilots if I'm not mistaken) had nothing better to do and decided to race these bikes (I think they were either Harleys or BMW's). upon racing, they discovered that they were kinda heavy. So they started removing all the stuff that was bolted on that they didn't need. Even then, they realized that it was still heavy (fenders were and some still are made of metal and covered a large amount of the wheel I think for armoring purposes). So some dude decided to literally "chop" off as much metal as they could off the bike but still, leaving just enough to serve its purpose. These made them very light and powerful as the large engines now didn't have to act like trucks lugging shit.

I have met many people and done many things to cars and bikes. Still so far, choppers intrigue me the most. Not because of the speed they can take, I don't really care about that, but more of the fact that this is such a personalized bike now that you can do whatever you want to it and it will look nice.

Now, back to what I said about choppers, a lot of people don't agree with me about what a chopper is, but they never realized that I never said I was right, I'm just expressing my point of view. Most Malaysians ride kit bikes. These are bikes roll out of the assembly line and purchased by the owners, but the owners want them to look different. I have seen afew of these kit bikes via some friends. Beautiful. Unfortunately, some look like they were assembled in a junk yard. I have afew friends too who have done up their bikes as a "true chopper" these are great too. They really strip off what they don't need and leave it as plain and simple as possible.

Also, I don't pretend that my bike is a true chop, because as mentioned in my first or second post, it is a combination of different types of choppers. I wouldn't call it a rat bike too as unfortunately, a rat bike in Malaysia is what these half baked, no creativity, hillbilly people who cant complete a project before starting another call their "frankenstien + mr potatohead" combo of a bike. Don't get me wrong, there are very nice rats, but most Malaysians can't tell a rat bike and a junk heap.

How these are made is one thing, but I must really say, I used to think American businessmen had a great way of twisting words like Cleanliness engineer = janitor and stuff like that. I once saw a badly painted bike and asked "erm, so… what's the look you were goin for?". He asked: "you can't tell?" (looking at me like I he didn't know himself) then continued: "uuhh.. it's a… RAT!!". Sadly that's the excuse a lot of people give nowadays for a rat look. But that's not always so. So, back to Malaysians and excuses, I came across a bike one day where the paintjob was quite fresh. They must have thought it smart to put gold leaf on it. Which is true, BUT, it was coming off. It was obvious (maybe he didn't lacquer it, I don't know), and the guy knew it, he just ignored the fact and went on explaining his things. The next time I was the bike, I found it was advertised as a "special" paintjob done with special gold leaf where it is semi silver and gold. I don't know if people bought the idea or not, but well, what can I say. I have even heard stories from people I used to know laughing at some local bike builders who built very badly misshapen, uneven frames and the excuse when the customers complain was, "it's a custom, its not an exact science". Huh? So how is it everyone else can do it right? Hence, with my slight rants, you can slightly see why I think so lowly of what the general "chopper folks" do.

Please don't overlook the fact that although I ran about very bad handiwork, I must admit. There are a handful of unsung heroes, bike builders, and metal fabricators that don't stick out of the woodwork and are unknown to most of the community. The bikes I will show later will explain abit. One of these bikes are of a close friend of mine whom in my view is a humble and wise man that I have the most upmost respect for: Eelman. Eelman loves bikes and he has a vision of true chops. He gets his bikes built by very nice people. Although I don't know who builds his entire bike, I do know that some metal fabrications and tanks are built by a guy called Wak Jep. I have met this guy and I must say. He has very very good handiwork when it comes to metal shaping. He doesn't do it the "American way", but more towards an old school way. Here, English wheels and automated hammers are not cheap, so it's a cut, paste and grind job. Apparently, he is very good at exhausts as well. I may be getting him to go one for me if he has the time.

Also, big ups to my new friend Ciprian! He owns a photoblog. I love his bike. Its another great true chop chopper although he says he doesn't call it that and prefers to think of it as a rat. In my opinion, he's too humble. IT'S A TRUE CHOP DUDE!!

Enough talk. Picture time:

La Songket: Eelman's recently completed bike. look at how it is chopped. clear and light

Eelman doing a stunt on his EN500 The Lycan. I call him the Malaysian Indian Larry

Another true chop from, my friend Ciprian in Euro. Great bike. Its now in pieces awaiting reassembly.

This is the BN175, Malaysias only easyrider rebadged as a Jaguh. this picture shows an example of a so called "Rat" bike made by uncreative people.

By Vy

The comeback

I had been putting this website on hold for sometime, generally, the reason was because I was having some issues with the people I was working with. The thing is, my bike is something I love a lot. It has been with me for many a year and has brought me a lot of joy when I just needed to hit the road and make a run for it. So far, it has been some time since I saw it, because, like I said, the people I was working with were not so agreeable on what can and can't be done. Lots of “yes I can” then “in fact I can't” had occurred. I shall delve in that later. As the time went on, I realized that I was sinking into a deep depression due to many factors in life, and this played a pretty big role. On top of my bike being half baked, I had loads of other issues on hand. I had half a mind to take it out of the place where it was moved to (the competent people), pour some gas on it and set it ablaze for all the heartache this ordeal had put me through.

But after long talks with a lot of people and some new friends who had been there to help give a shoulder to cry on, I had decided to continue on and let the mechanic do what he needed to. Then, the rest is up to me.

Unfortunately, a lot of things (good and bad) are taking up a lot of my weekends now, seeing how, unlike some people, I have a day job (then again you can call it a night job since I work afternoon to nights). I don’t have time to pretend like I know what’s happening and a lot of my life right now is used to patch up the holes I had left when I was in such depression and also to straighten out my life. It will take some time, but my life comes first, my riding days can wait for awhile.

I had finally gotten the call from the bike shop telling me his part is done and the bike should start. We brought it back home on a Friday night, with no headlights, no tail lights, a misaligned rear tyre, a front tyre that is not bolted on (the tyre shaft isn't long enough) and just some existing blue ground works that showed people that I was actually there. The road home didn’t help too as it was a dark road with few or no lights.

Reaching home, I had realized that there was a very heavy smell of fuel. Upon checking, I had found that the fuel cork on the tank was leaking very badly. And this was where the fuel cork was screwed in (with a full tank of gas). To make matters worse, the fuel was leaking and dripping on a hot cylinder head and exactly into the port where the sparkplug was sitting. As it dripped, it sizzled. I was then being very thankful I didn’t blow up on the way home, I quickly removed the tank and went on to drain as much fuel as I could so the tank can sit 45 degrees on its side so the fuel didn’t leak from the cork nor the gas cap. As of now, it is still sitting on the sink.

Anyway, this is the start of me telling all who are out there that I, Vyraz will be on two wheels very soon. And the Mad Chop Shop will be up and running documenting everything I will be doing as much as I can. You may have pissed on my flame, but I am back. Though the process will be slower than I expected, but I will finish my work and I will ride again. Although it will be awhile because I want to spend time with my family instead of hiding away all the time.

And as before, I will be sharing what has been done, where it has been done and how long it took. So that others with a need to want to try this out can get a rough idea on how to do it.

Shoutouts:

My wife: for being there always, though I was down all the time, you never stopped supporting me and encouraging me to continue this.

Ron: for constantly supporting me in whatever choices I made.

Shin: for having sore ears listening to me whine

EelMan: for your words of wisdom and guidance on what should be done. You have no idea how much I appreciate it. You didn’t even know me then, yet you were supportive, especially when I kept SMSing you with the same thing over and over again (I'm soooooo sorry abt that!!)

Shane: for being my wingman in all of this, giving me backup if I ever needed any.

GJ (Notti Gang): for taking me in as one of you and not judging me even when you first met me.

(i almost forgot this very important guy) Nathan: without you being my left hand the other day (ironic seeing how it was cracked and u used ur right hand... -_-"") i wouldnt have saved as much of my things as i did. thank you for helping me so much.

If I missed anyone out, please just email me, I will add you all in.

Eelman told me once before, sometimes, things happen for a reason, its sometimes a blessing in disguise. Now things are clearing up, I am starting to see it. If I didn’t have these stupid issues occur to me, I would never have seen who some people really are and I would never have met such nice people too.

I AM BACK!!!

P.S. what happened with my bike will be posted later on. Long and windy story

By Vy

Someone pissed on my fire :(

The flames have faded, but the love for the sport is still strong.

By Vy

No Defamation

Hello, despite several requests to write out events that have been happening as of late, I would like to send a clear message to those who know. For those who do not know, then well, you don't need to know as I will be stating why in a few moments.

Some bad things happen to people some times. Sometimes those are not intentional and at most times shit just happens. I know for a fact that there are good qualities in most people and due to some unfortunate events and also my stupid fingers, I had lost a great friend. Nevertheless, I would like to thank all of you who have helped me and all of you who had been listening to me whine on and on about my side of the story. I would also like to apologize to my friend I had lost due to me fumbling the keypad and sending wrong messages.

However, although I appreciate everyone's support, I must say this very clearly. The Chopshop has never and most certainly WILL NOT defame other people, bikers, shops, garages, bikes or anyone's pets. Anyone wants to defame anything, do it else where as I will remove any negative comments that have to do with other people on my blog. Should anyone else feel like defaming me, my bike or The Chopshop, then there is nothing I can do about it. It's a free world.

On that note, I would like to just say this the world of chopper riders in Malaysia is already so small, why are there so many different factions? I don't really believe that "we are all brothers" and bullshit. But what I do believe in is that we all have the same thing in common, we like choppers, be it cafe, big choppers, small choppers. We don't have to be "brothers", we can all be friends. We are a minority and should stick together.

By Vy